Conventionally, organic EL (electroluminescence) devices are known as devices to be used for light emitting displays, etc. Such an organic EL device basically has an organic layer having at least a light emitting layer as an organic constituent layer and a pair of electrode layers.
An example of the organic EL device is shown in FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 10, a conventional organic EL device 50 is formed by sequentially stacking a first electrode layer 23 (for example, an anode layer), an organic layer 25 having at least a light emitting layer as an organic constituent layer, and a second electrode layer 27 (for example, a cathode layer) on one surface of a substrate 21 as constituent layers of the device (see FIG. 10(a)), and subsequently stacking a sealing layer 29 (see FIGS. 10(b) to (d)). Further, the organic EL device 50 has a portion in which the first electrode layer 23, the organic layer 25, and the second electrode layer 27 overlap and which serves as a light emitting part 40.
Furthermore, the first electrode layer 23 and the second electrode layer 27 are formed to protrude outwardly from the sealing layer 29 so as not to overlap each other, so that they can be energized from the outside with no short circuit therebetween.
For example, on the right side of FIG. 10(b), the right end side of the organic layer 25 protrudes from the right end edge of the second electrode layer 27 toward the right side so that the first electrode layer 23 can be energized with no short circuit, as described above. Further, the right end side of the first electrode layer 23 protrudes from the right end edge of the organic layer 25 toward the right side (see the right side of FIG. 10(a)). Furthermore, the right end side of the first electrode layer is formed to protrude from the right end edge of the sealing layer 29 toward the right side (see the right side of FIG. 10(d)).
Further, on the left side of FIG. 10(b), the left end side of the organic layer 25 protrudes from the left end edge of the first electrode layer 23 toward the left side so that the second electrode layer 27 can be energized with no short circuit, as described above. Further, the left end side of the second electrode layer 27 protrudes from the left end edge of the organic layer 25 toward the left side (see the left side of FIG. 10(a)). Furthermore, the second electrode layer 27 is formed to protrude from the left end edge of the sealing layer 29 toward the left side (see the left side of FIG. 10(d)).
In such an organic EL device of this type, a substrate made of an organic resin is used as a substrate for flexibility. In this case, there are cases where oxygen or moisture permeates through the substrate so as to penetrate into the above described constituent layer side, thereby causing a deterioration in light emission properties of the organic EL device over time.
Therefore, it has been proposed that oxygen or moisture is prevented from permeating through the substrate by using a substrate made of metal (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2). Further, in the case of using such a substrate made of metal, an insulating layer is formed on the substrate in order to prevent a short circuit due to contact between the substrate made of metal and the aforementioned first electrode layer.